Cyber-crime will 'continue to grow'

12:50 22nd September 2008

Cyber-crime will continue to grow as long as governments refuse to address it by bringing in tougher sentences, an internet security expert has claimed.

The co-founder of the internet security house, Kaspersky Laboratories, has suggested that cyber-crime is now a profit-driven multi-billion pound industry, mirroring the legitimate economy.

Eugene Kaspersky explained that police co-operation to fight online crime was improving, but governments needed to press Latin American leaders to get their laws to take the threat seriously.

Speaking at a cyber-crime forum, Mr Kaspersky said: "Fighting cyber-crime needs three things - for users to protect themselves and their organisations, for governments to take it seriously, and for everyone to become educated about the threats and how to stop them."

Earlier this month, a study conducted by Forrester research revealed that IT security budgets are consuming ten per cent of business operating budgets, amid rising concerns over data breaches.

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